China’s Moon probe successfully returns to Earth this morning | VIDEO

China’s Chang’e-5 mission has arrived safely back on Earth after a successful 3 week mission to the Moon, collecting rocks and soil from the surface, and then retuning. It’s the first time since the 1970s a space mission like this has been completed. China becomes only the 3rd country in the world to successfully collect rocks from the moon.

The mission was launched from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the southern island of Hainan (in the South China Sea) on November 24 using one of China’s Long March 5 rockets to propel the Moon probe on its way.

Very early this morning, the capsule landed in Siziwang Banner, north of China’s Inner Mongolia, according to China’s National Space Administration.

SCREENSHOT: China’s National Space Administration

Chang’e-5 was named after the ancient Chinese goddess of the moon. The Chinese have already announced their intention to plan for an eventual inhabited Moon base and an orbiting space station of their own.

The US and the, then, Soviet Union, both launched Moon missions in the 1960s and 70s – the US the only manned missions to the Moon, the first of six missions in July 1969.

In the US Apollo program 12 astronauts over 6 flights from 1969 to 1972, brought back 382 kilograms of moon rock and soil.

The Soviet Union deployed 3 successful unmanned return missions in the 1970s. The last mission, the Luna 24, brought back 170.1 grams of samples in 1976.

On Tuesday this week Thai Government minister Anek Laothamatas announced that Thailand will have built and launched a spacecraft that will orbit and explore the moon within 7 years. The Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research, and Innovation was speaking at a press conference at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, where an update on Covid-19 vaccines was being delivered to the media.

“The project will forever change the whole perspective of Thai people that Thailand is no longer a developing country but is a country with a future, opportunity, and hope.”

The announcement of a Thai Moon mission has been largely scoffed in social media with an often asked question…. “why?”